Why does my MH box wiggle when the jacks are down?

[rvten]

For one thing. The jacks are put on by the Box builder not WCC. Any weight left on the wheels will allow the suspention sytem to give as you walk around. If the jacks sink into the soft ground the wheels come into contact with the ground. Every MH I have had has had this problem.

Only way I see to stop the wiggle is jack it up as high as you can get it. Put cement blocks under the frame and set it back down. Just like they do with w mobile home.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by rvten:
Put cement blocks under the frame and set it back down. Just like they do with w mobile home. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>10-4! Folks have to remember that we gotta stay mobile and ready to go in a moments notice.

My HWH hydraulic jacks are pretty good except if I extend them all the way out, then they wobble.

Best thing to stabilize a motorhome that I have found is to get an RV site that has a concrete pad.

[Petro]

Luke;

My motor home used to wiggle a lot more when I was younger, but unfortunately as I get older it wiggles less & less.

Don

[JJ Simba05 FLSTCI02]

I agree it is the suspension doing what it is supposed to do, as when you have jacks down you still have suspension movement. I had this same problem before I installed the stabil air suspension. Now when I park I dump the air bags then level it and no longer have the wiggle problem.

[jackrobinryan]

Something no one mentioned might also come into play here...

I have a new 38T adventure w/ 17' driverside front and curbside rear slides. The coach weighs in at 23400 pounds on the W-24 chassis.

And the thing bounces alot when my little 118 lb wife just walks around a bit.

With that kind of torsional loading front and aft, I tend to think this frame is just not beefed up enough by WB before putting the box on.

[Tenn.Vol.]

Petro, YOUR NOT RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!

But as I think back, you may have something there!!LOL... TENN.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jackrobinryan:
With that kind of torsional loading front and aft, I tend to think this frame is just not beefed up enough by WB before putting the box on. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>jackrobinryan, Before this concept settles totally into your mind let me offer the following. Your frame rails are comprised of 50,000 psi, .25" thick, 9.625" high, 3.0" wide and yields a section modulus of 10.13 cu in. The rail offers a 506,500 pounds Resistive Bending Movement (RBM). If you place the rail in a large enough machine you would have to apply over 253 tons to begin twisting the chassis.

It is unlikely that your chassis is torquing up to any significant degree because it is just as strong as any rear diesel pusher of 32K GVW in capacity.

The wiggle problem goes back to tires and jack pads being in contact with the ground. Having a sound footing and proper weight loading between the tires and jacks assures the best stability. The caveat is that mobile vehicles unless totally mounted on immovable stanchions such as a jack stand will wiggle somewhat. The ones that don't wiggle are called houses.

[NeilV]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DriVer:
The ones that don't wiggle are called houses. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not applicable during hurricane season in Florida and any time of the year in California ;&gt;

[TakerEasy]

One thing I noticed is when you level, then extend the slides, you may have the teeter tooter affect. One set up jacks has more weight on them and you unloaded weight from the other side.

Once I figured this out, I would level, then make the slide side slightly higher, then after I put my slide out i quickly bump the jacks a couple of times on the opposite side to do the final level (small amount). This reduced the wiggles a lot.

[Tom-NC]

Driver, For the pads under the jacks go to Wal-mart and buy 4 cutting boards that your wife would use to cut up meat or chicken. They are about 1/2-3/3" thick and have a handle and work great plus they are very in expensive.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TomfromNC:
Driver, For the pads under the jacks go to Wal-mart and buy 4 cutting boards ... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Yes sir those poly plastic boards work well in fact I needed to use 2 of them to mount my Red Devil central vac I bought from RV Upgrades.

Drill a hole in the board and move it around with the awning rod if that works for you while positioning them under the RV.

[jackrobinryan]

Driver, thanks for the info and insight on the strength of the frame. Maybe what I wanted to or should have said was that the Winnebago box frame mounted on top of the workhorse might be the item flexing. As I look underneath, (been there alot lately looking at the install issues for sway bars and etc) I don't see where the two are in direct contact except for a few places along the top endge of the Workhorse chassis rail...

By the way, thanks for all your great informative posts on the chassis improvements you've done. With almost 6,000 miles in the seat, I'm pretty close to doing some of those. This new 38T is very tall and even w/ careful attention to loading, low speed sway is an issue.

Got the name of a good frame shop in the Myrtle Beach/Wilmington NC corridor? Will be there over the next few weeks.

thanks
jack

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jackrobinryan: </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Jack, Taker' easy - one thing at a time. I believe you may want to consider a rear track bar and then go from there.

[jackrobinryan]

Will do, Driver. Ordering the rear trac bar today.

thanks
jr